Archive by Date
Chronological archive of our feature articles.

05-07-08 Solutions for Sleep
Medical and self-management approaches to improving sleep.

04-22-08 Strategies for Pain
Medication and self-management approaches to pain relief.

04-09-08 Fighting Fatigue
Fatigue can have many causes. Learn how to fight back using a combination of strategies.

03-26-08 Five Treatment Principles
The foundation for a CFS/FM symptom management plan.

03-12-08 From Defiance to Discipline: How I Found Freedom Through Acceptance and Adaptation
How Bianca Veness learned to manage her CFS by listening to her body.

02-27-08 Managing Your Medications
Five common problems and what to do about them.

02-13-08 How I Use Pacing to Manage CFS
Bianca Veness's seven pacing strategies.

01-30-08 From Hare to Tortoise: How I Found Freedom (and Improved My Life) by Accepting My Limits
How Bianca Veness gained control of her life by living within her limits.

01-16-08 My Energy Bank Account
How a simple pacing strategy allowed Vicki Lockwood to reduce her symptoms and gain control of her life.

01-02-08 Acceptance, Discipline & Hope: A Story of Recovery from CFIDS
Dean Anderson's account of his successful eight-year struggle.

12-19-07 The Anatomy of Hope
How to keep hope alive, even when you have an illness with no cure.

11-28-07 Adjusting to Serious Illness: Strategies for Patients and Their Families

11-14-07 Strengthening Intimacy: Six Strategies That Help

10-31-07 Counting Your Blessings: How Gratitude Improves Your Health

10-17-07 Three Forms of Support

10-03-07 Smoothing the Emotional Roller Coaster
How one patient tamed the emotions triggered by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

09-18-07 Rebuilding Life in the Face of Loss
How one person moved through denial to acceptance and finally to new meaning and a new life 

09-04-07 Experiments with Exercise
How one patient understood CFS through reflecting on his experiences with exercise.

08-21-07 Everyone is Different: The Role of Individual Circumstances in CFS and FM
Every person's experience of illness is unique. Here's an example to show you how to identify the important factors in your situation.

08-07-07 Gaining Control by Understanding My Envelope
Bruce Campbell describes how a developing a detailed understanding his limits enabled him to control his symptoms and eventually expand his limits.

07-24-07 Ten Tips for Travel
How to enjoy travel when you have a long-term illness.

07-10-07 Family Communication Tips
How to use problem solving and other strategies to reduce misunderstandings and improve family communication.

06-26-07 CFS, FM & Sex: Solutions to Common Problems
When CFS or fibromyalgia enters a marriage, one casualty can be intimacy. This article discusses strategies for responding to three common problems: fear, pain and reduced desire.

06-12-07 Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Quick Overview
A quick introduction to fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome focusing on symptoms, treatments and prognosis.

05-29-07 Family Adjustments to CFS & FM
How to adapt family life to long term illness. Article focuses on adjusting household tasks, making financial changes, modifying social time and making psychological adjustments.

05-15-07 Coping with the Impacts of CFS and FM
CFS and FM create widespread effects on patients and those around them. Here's how to cope with four of those impacts: unpredictability, intense emotions, stress and sensory overload.

04-24-07 Treating CFS and Fibromyalgia: How Family and Friends Can Help
Living well with CFS or FM requires many adaptations. This article describes practical ways to support patients in their efforts to feel better.

04-10-07 Welcome to Holland!
Having a chronic illness is like landing in Holland when you planned a trip to Italy. Here are some ideas about living in the land of tulips and Rembrandts.

03-28-07 Minimizing Flares with the Relapse & Special Event Worksheets
Understand and take control over setbacks using these two worksheets.

03-13-07 Planning Worksheets:  A Tool for Pacing
How to use daily and weekly schedules to bring stability to your life.

02-27-07 Step 8: Build Support
Improve relationships and find new sources of support.

02-13-07 Step 7: Manage Feelings
Handle the feelings triggered by your illness.

01-30-07 Step 6: Reduce Stress
Adopt strategies for stress reduction and stress avoidance.

01-16-07 Step 5: Gain Control through Lifestyle Adjustments
Control symptoms by changing how you live.

01-03-07 Step 4: Develop a New Self-Understanding
Learn to live a new kind of life.

12-13-06 Step 3: Create a Symptom Management Plan
Evaluate and select treatments.

11-29-06 Step 2: Understand Your Unique Situation
Know your individual circumstances.

11-14-06 Step 1: Educate Yourself
Learn about your illness.

10-31-06 Introduction:  The Power of Self-Management
There are many things you can do to help yourself, even if you have an illness with no cure. (First in the series Eight Steps to a Better Life.)

10-17-06 Finding & Working Productively with Doctors
Selecting and working with your healthcare team.

10-03-06 My Life as a "CFS Scientist:" Using Records to Gain Control
How a few minutes of daily record keeping paid big dividends for one patient.

09-19-06 Is Recovery a Realistic Goal?
One person's answer to the question.

09-05-06 How I Gained Hope and Control: Pacing for the Bedbound Patient
Geraldine Blackman describes how her use of pacing brought structure and purpose to her life.

08-22-06 Getting the Most from Limited Energy
How Nancy Fortner uses routines to improve her quality of life.

08-06-06 Ten Tips for Travel
How to enjoy travel when you have a long-term illness.

07-20-06 Nutrition and Chemical Sensitivity
Food is fuel for the body, but CFS and fibromyalgia patients face several challenges to getting good nutrition. 

06-13-06 Exercise
Exercise can be a useful treatment for FM and CFS. Here's an overview, plus some guidelines.

05-24-06 Looking for a Big Payoff on a Small Investment? Try Keeping a Health Log
A few minutes a day of record keeping can produce big benefits.

05-02-06 Lifting the Fog
Strategies for controlling brain fog.

04-11-06 Overlapping & Related Conditions
Are some of your symptoms due to conditions besides Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or fibromyalgia? Here are nine medical problems that often occur together with CFS and FM.

03-21-06 Building a New Life: Illness as a Spiritual Journey
Creating a new self from the ashes of the old.

02-28-06 Non-Drug Treatments for Pain: Nine Strategies
While medications are often used for pain, alternative approaches can be helpful as well.

02-07-06 Optimism, Hope & Control: Attitudes & Health
Over the last two decades, many studies have documented a connection between a positive attitude and health, and shown how changing your attitude can help you feel better.

01-17-06 Living Well with Long-Term Illness: The Role of Self-Management
Medical conditions like CFIDS and fibromyalgia that have no cure have to be managed. Here are some ideas on how to improve your quality of life by taking an active role in your own care.

12-27-05 Top 10
The most popular articles on our website for 2005.

12-06-05 Coming to Terms with Loss: A Personal Perspective
FMS patient Linda Borell describes how an experience of loss earlier in her life prepared her to deal with the losses brought by fibromyalgia.

11-15-05 25 Reasons Why I’ve Improved
CFS/FM patient Bobbie Brown used many coping techniques to increase her functional level.

10-26-05 Advice to a New Patient: 2005
Fellow patients tell what works for them.

10-05-05 Taking Action Helps Defeat Negative Emotions
By taking a problem-solving approach instead of seeing herself as a victim, chronic pain patient Nancy Fortner has improved her quality of life.

09-13-05 Key 10: Move Beyond Loss to Build a New Life
Working through grief to create new meaning and a new life.

08-23-05 Key 9: Honor Your Emotions
Strong emotions are normal reactions to chronic illness. Self-help strategies can help you manage them.

08-02-05 Key 8: Seek Support and Understanding
Six strategies for increasing support and staying connected.

07-12-05 Key 7: Manage Stress
Seven techniques for stress reduction, plus strategies for avoiding stress.

06-21-05 Key 6: Minimize Relapses
How to reduce the frequency and severity of setbacks.

05-24-05 Illness and Housekeeping
Housekeeping felt overwhelming to FM patient Nancy Fortner, but she found a way to create a clean and orderly house.

05-03-05 Key 5: Pace Yourself
Pacing provides a way to gain control of chronic illness rather than being at the mercy of symptoms.

04-12-05 Key 4: Find Your Limits
Living inside the Energy Envelope offers an alternative to the cycle of push and crash.

03-22-05 Key 3: Experiment
How to use problem-solving, record keeping and short-term goal setting.

03-01-05 Key 2: Use Multiple Coping Strategies
How to develop an individualized self-management plan.

02-08-05 Key 1: Combine Acceptance and Hope
There is power in the paradoxical combination of acceptance that life has changed and the conviction that it can be made better.

01-18-05 Ten Keys Introduction: The Power of Self-Help
There are many things you can do to help yourself, even when you have an illness with no cure. (First in the series Ten Keys to Successful Coping.)  

12-28-04 The Anatomy of Hope
How to keep hope alive, even when you have an illness with no cure.  

12-14-04 More Advice to a New Patient
Coping strategies that fellow patients find helpful. (Second article on topic.) 

11-30-04 Surviving the Holidays
Tips for reducing stress and increasing enjoyment of the Holidays, offered by guest author Karen Lee Richards.

11-16-04 Controlling Relapses
One patient's techniques for reducing the severity and frequency of relapses.

11-02-04 My Secret Weapon: Pre-Emptive Rest
How one patient reduced his symptoms and brought predictability to life through scheduled rests.

10-19-04 Pacing Strategies
An account of how to replace living on a roller coaster with gaining control over symptoms and bringing stability to life.

10-05-04 Self-Help as a Treatment for CFS 
Bruce Campbell used lifestyle change to produce a steady improvement in quality of life and eventually recovery. (First in four-part series "Recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.")

09-21-04 Stress Reduction: Five Practical Techniques
Step-by-step instruction for five relaxation procedures.

09-07-04 Creating a New Life
Moving beyond loss to build a new life. (Last in "Challenges" series.)

08-24-04 Grieving Your Losses
Grieving can help you work through the losses resulting from illness.

08-10-04 Building a Support Network
Developing a support network is an antidote to the frustrations and isolation of chronic illness.

07-27-04 Strengthening Your Ties
How to respond positively to relationship problems created by long-term illness.

07-13-04 Adjusting Thinking
Using thoughts to manage emotions.

06-29-04 Depression & Worry
How self-help can play a role in managing the emotional aspects of chronic disease.

06-15-04 Stress Reduction & Stress Prevention 
Six more stress reduction techniques, plus ideas on preventing stress.

06-01-04 Relaxation
Relaxation is a powerful stress reducer. Here are three techniques to try.

05-19-04 Pacing: An Alternative to Push and Crash
Pacing provides a way to live a more stable and predictable life.

05-04-04 Living Within Limits
Living within your energy envelope offers an alternative to repeated cycles of push and crash.

04-20-04 Introduction
How long-term illness is different from acute and why your role as a patient is different.  (From the  series: "Meeting the Challenges of Long-Term Illness") 

04-07-04 Exercise
Guidelines for exercising safely. Also, how to stick with an exercise program.

03-23-04 Physical and Psychological Recovery from CFS
CFS patient Margaret Fergusson used a strategy that focused on a weekly activity plan and meditation to increase her functional level from 15% to 70%.

03-09-04 Self-Help for CFIDS and Fibromyalgia
Discussion of four key principles of the course and quotes from participants. (Written by CFIDS/fibromyalgia author Lisa Lorden.)

02-24-04 Pacing: A Young Person's View
Guest author Ingebjorg Dahl shows you how to use pacing to smooth out the CFIDS roller coaster.

02-10-04 Killing Me Softly : FM/CFS & Suicide
Depression, which is common in long-term illness, sometimes leads to thoughts of suicide. This article by guest author Lisa Lorden offers ideas for coping when life seems hopeless.

01-27-04 Skills & Attitude
Your success in managing long-term illness also depends on your coping skills and attitude. This article shows you several keys to successful adaptation.

01-14-04 Developing a Partnership with Your Doctor
How to have productive visits with your doctor.

01-03-04 The Anatomy of Hope
How to keep hope alive, even when you have an illness with no cure.

12-18-03 How I Use Routine to Successfully Manage Fibromyalgia
Read how fibromyalgia patient Joan Buchman uses routine to control symptoms and lead a fulfilling life.

12-03-03 Surviving the Holidays
Read tips for reducing stress and increasing enjoyment of the Holidays, offered by guest author Karen Lee Richards.

11-18-03 Understanding Chronic Illness
How chronic illness differs from short-term illness. Also, understanding your unique situation.

11-04-03 CFIDS & Fibromyalgia Basics
Your first responsibility is to gather information so you can make informed, intelligent decisions. This article gives you basic facts about CFIDS and fibromyalgia.  (From the  series: "Self-Management: The Patient’s Role in Long-Term Illness") 

10-21-03 Solutions for Sleep
Learn what makes good sleep difficult for people with fibromyalgia and CFIDS, and how to use a three-part approach to improve your rest.   (From the  series: "Treating CFIDS and Fibromyalgia.") 

10-07-03 Fighting Pain
Pain has multiple causes and is best managed by using a variety of strategies. Learn to combat it with the techniques described in this article.   (From the  series: "Treating CFIDS and Fibromyalgia.") 

09-16-03 Strategies for Fatigue
Fatigue can have many causes. Learn how to fight back using a combination of strategies.   (From the  series: "Treating CFIDS and Fibromyalgia.")

09-02-03 Acceptance, Discipline & Hope: A Story of Recovery from CFIDS
Dean Anderson's account of his successful eight-year struggle.

08-26-03 Getting Through the Bad Days
Read guest author Patti Schmidt’s strategies for handling relapses.

08-08-03 Nurture Yourself with Pre-Emptive Rest
Scheduled rest is a simple technique that can help reduce symptoms and make life more stable.  (Reposted from the series "Ten Keys to Coping and Recovery.")

07-22-03 Will I Get Better? Tilting the Odds in Your Favor
The outlook for many CFIDS and fibromyalgia patients is positive. Here are some ideas on how to increase your chances for improvement.

07-08-03 Roadmap for Chronic Illness
To become ill with a serious illness is to enter a confusing labyrinth, in which all the rules of life seem to have changed and there is no obvious way out. Get a roadmap to this country by reading about the six characteristics of chronic illness.

06-24-03 Taming Stressful Thoughts: Making Thoughts Work For You
Our thoughts about being ill can be a cause of stress. Learn the three step process for making thoughts work for you instead of against you.

06-10-03 What Recovery Means to Me
What does "recovery" mean? For CFS patient JoWynn Johns, it meant letting go of the goal of restoring her previous life. She was successful in regaining a high quality of life through creating a different kind of life than she had before becoming ill.

05-27-03 From Doing to Being: My Journey to Healing
After years of declining health, Yvonne Bond made the difficult decision to stop working. In this article, she tells her story of creating a new and better life.

05-13-03 Advice to a New Patient
What are the most important things to remember in coping with chronic illness? Read some answers from fellow patients in this article.

04-29-03 Preventing Relapses
Relapses are a painful and often demoralizing part of long-term illness. Read five strategies that can help you prevent setbacks.

04-15-03 Five Ways to Expand Your Energy Envelope
Living within strict limits can be frustrating, leading to repeated cycles of push and crash. This article describes five ways to expand your activity level without increasing symptoms.

04-01-03 Writing Is Good Medicine
CFIDS/FM writer Lisa Lorden explains how writing can improve your health.

03-18-03 Looking Back: Our First 5 Years
We have offered almost 100 groups in our first five years. This article describes how our program evolved and the beliefs on which it’s based.

03-04-03 Using CBT: A Success Story
Read how James Thomas used Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

02-18-03 When All Else Fails, Take A Nap
CFIDS/FM writer Lisa Lorden sings the praises of daytime rest. 

02-04-03 The Power of P.R.I.D.E.
Lynn Humphreys describes how she improved her life when she started living with P.R.I.D.E.: pacing, rest, information, delegating and enjoyment. From our Success Stories series.

01-21-03 Adapting to Fibromyalgia
By focusing on the many practical things she could do to feel better, fibromyalgia patient Jana Murrell-Maxfield made a successful adaptation to long-term illness. (From our Success Stories series.)

01-07-03 Living with Fibromyalgia: What Helps Me
FM patient Kathy Gamble describes the many strategies she uses to create a good life with fibromyalgia. (From our Success Stories series.)

12-17-02 How I Created a Good Life with Fibromyalgia
FM patient Joan Buchman writes that while she did not choose to have fibromyalgia, she did have a choice about how to live with it. Read her account of how she used determination, lifestyle changes and  mental adjustments to develop a fulfilling life with chronic illness. (From our Success Stories series.)

12-03-02 Surviving the Holidays
Read tips for reducing stress and increasing enjoyment of the Holidays, offered by guest author Karen Lee Richards. (From our Coping Strategies series.)

11-19-02 Coping with Relapses: Tips from Patients
Relapses are an inevitable and often demoralizing part of chronic illness. This final article in the What Works series describes strategies students in our program use to reduce the frequency and severity of setbacks. From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia."

11-05-02 Improving Relationships
Advice from fellow patients on how to make relationships better.  From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia."

10-22-02 Managing Emotions
Strong emotions are common in long-term illness. Read what strategies students in our program find helpful in coping with depression, responding to loss and confronting anger. From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia."

10-08-02 Reducing and Preventing Stress
Read about the thirteen different types of stress reduction techniques used by students in our program, and also about the stress prevention strategies they employ. From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia."

09-24-02 Reaching Goals
A simple technique for achieving goals is target setting, which involves translating general goals into specific, doable steps. This article will show you how.  From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia."

09-10-02 Recovery from CFIDS: What Worked for Me, Part 2
The second of two articles describing how Bruce Campbell used self-help to recover from CFIDS. This is an expanded version of the article published in the Spring and Summer 2002 issues of the CFIDS Chronicle.  (From the Success Stories series.)

08-27-02 Recovery from CFIDS: What Worked for Me
The first of two articles describing how Bruce Campbell used self-help to recover from CFIDS. This is an expanded version of article published in the Spring and Summer 2002 issues of the CFIDS Chronicle.  (From the Success Stories series.)

08-13-02 Achieving Stability Through Pacing
Pacing is often recommended as a strategy for gaining control of symptoms and bringing stability. But how do you do it? This article describes what students have found helpful.  (From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia.")

07-30-02 Conquering Helplessness
Chronic illness often produces a sense of helplessness. This article describes what students in our self-help course report they do in order to regain control.   (From the  series: "What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia.")

07-16-02 What Works for Managing CFIDS and Fibromyalgia
First in a series of 8 articles featuring quotes from students in our program, sharing what they have found useful in living with CFIDS and fibromyalgia.

07-02-02 Making a NOT TO DO List
One way to improve quality of life is by having a NOT TO DO list, suggests guest author Eunice Beck. (From the Coping Strategies series.)

06-18-02 In Praise of Solitude
Many people with chronic illness are forced to spend large amounts of time alone. Read how CFIDS patient JoWynn Johns found blessings in solitude. (From the Coping Strategies series.)

06-04-02 Finding Your Energy Envelope, Part II
Second half of article on controlling symptoms by honoring the body’s limits. This part describes how to develop a detailed understanding of your envelope. (From the Coping Strategies series.)

05-21-02 Finding Your Energy Envelope, Part I
The first of two articles on controlling symptoms by finding and honoring the body’s limits. This article describes a system for understanding your limits and offers two techniques for expanding them. (From the Coping Strategies series.)

05-07-02 Will I Get Better? Tilting the Odds in Your Favor
The outlook for many CFIDS and fibromyalgia patients is positive. Here are some ideas on how to increase your chances for improvement.  (From the Coping Strategies series.)

04-23-02 Roadmap for Chronic Illness
To become ill with a serious illness is to enter a confusing labyrinth, in which all the rules of life seem to have changed and there is no obvious way out. Get a roadmap to this country by reading about the six characteristics of chronic illness. (From the Coping Strategies series.)

04-09-02 What Recovery Means to Me
What does "recovery" mean? For JoWynn Johns, it meant letting go of the goal of restoring her previous life. She was successful in regaining a high quality of life through creating a different kind of life than she had before becoming ill. (From the Success Stories series.)

03-26-02 Getting Through the Bad Days
Read Patti Schmidt’s strategies for handling relapses. (From the Coping Strategies series.)

03-12-02 Learning to Manage Fibromyalgia
Denise Le Clair lived with fibromyalgia for over 20 years before having a name for her suffering. Read how getting a diagnosis triggered a process of change that produced a greatly improved quality of life. (From the Success Stories series.)

02-26-02 Expanding My Envelope: How I Balanced Work and CFIDS
Kristin Scherger describes how she was able to expand her energy envelope by changing careers. (From the Success Stories series.)

02-12-02 Using Self-Help to Recover from CFIDS
Read how Bruce Campbell's self-help approach to CFIDS produced a steady improvement in quality of life and eventually recovery.  (From the Success Stories series.)

01-29-02 The Healing Power of Gratitude
Can gratitude be life-transforming? Read FMS patient Joan Buchman’s account of the impact of gratitude on her life. (From the Success Stories series.)

01-15-02 Acceptance, Discipline & Hope: A Story of Recovery from CFIDS
Read this inspiring account of a successful eight-year struggle to recover from CFIDS. Dean Anderson used a self-help strategy that focused on acceptance of his illness, the discipline to live consistently within his limits, and an attitude of hope. (From the Success Stories series.)

01-01-02 Living Within My Envelope: A How-To Story 
JoWynn Johns describes how she reduced her symptoms and brought stability to her life by finding and honoring her body’s limits. (From the Success Stories series.)

12-11-01 Advice to a New Patient
What are the most important things to remember in coping with chronic illness? Read some answers from fellow patients in this article.

11-27-01 Coming to Terms with a Life I Didn’t Plan
Patti Schmidt explains how she worked through grief to learn how to live with her illness. (From the Success Stories series.)

11-13-01 Personal Guidelines For Managing Chronic Illness
Are you ever confused by your illness, wondering what you should do next? One solution is to create your own personal guidelines for managing chronic illness: a few rules to turn to for direction in times of confusion, a way to guide your recovery.

10-31-01 Taming Stressful Thoughts: Making Thoughts Work For You
Our thoughts about being ill can be a cause of stress. Learn the three step process for making thoughts work for you instead of against you.

10-16-01 Minimizing Relapses
Relapses are an inevitable and often demoralizing part of chronic illness.  Learn how to reduce their frequency and severity by using the self-help strategies in this article.

Ten Keys to Successful Coping 

10-02-01 Key 10: Find New Meaning
Chronic illness brings grief for the loss of the person we used to be. Use these seven strategies to bring new meaning to your life. 

09-18-01 Key 9: Honor Your Emotions
Emotions like fear, anger, grief and depression are normal reactions to having your life turned upside down by illness. Strategies like those in this week's article can help you cope.

Permission is granted to re-publish or re-post this material as long as the use is non-commercial (e.g. support group newsletter), the article is used in its entirety and the source is credited as CFIDS/Fibromyalgia Self-Help: www.cfidsselfhelp.org/